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Meat, vegetables, soups, beans

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Pressure Canning (Low-Acid)
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Meat, vegetables, soups, beans

Meat, vegetables, soups and beans are canned in a pressure canner, each from its own tested schedule, because every one of them is low-acid and each heats through the jar at a different speed. Pack them in the form the schedule was tested in, usually pieces in liquid, and leave out anything that makes the contents thicker or denser, such as flour, noodles, rice, mashed or pureed vegetables and dairy, because those slow the heat reaching the centre of the jar.

Part of Canning & Pressure Preservation

The four low-acid food groups most communities can are meat and poultry, plain vegetables, soups and stews, and dried beans, each with its own packing form and its own hazard.

The Packing Form Is Part Of The Schedule

A schedule is tested on a specific physical form of the food. Heat moves through a jar by two routes. In liquid it carries by circulation, which is fast. In a dense, solid or thick mass it moves only by conduction, which is much slower, so the centre of the jar lags behind the edge. A thick puree and a loose cubed food in broth can be the same ingredient and need completely different processing, and a schedule for one cannot be used for the other. That is the reason tested guidance does not give times for mashed squash or thick purees.

Meat and poultry. Packed as strips, chunks or whole pieces, with or without bones, hot or raw, as the schedule says. The parent article lists the schedules for bone-in chicken, beef or venison chunks and fish at 10 PSI in separate lines. Remove excess fat from meat, which can interfere with the seal, and keep rims clean.

Vegetables. Plain vegetables in pieces, in water or cooking liquid. Corn, peas, green beans and carrots have separate lines because each packs and heats differently. Do not mash, puree, or pack tightly beyond what the schedule says.

Soups, stews and broths. The risk is the ingredients you add. Tested practice avoids thickeners (flour, cornstarch), pasta, rice and dairy in the jar, adding them when the jar is opened and reheated. A soup is processed for the time of its slowest-heating ingredient, with its solids and liquid in the proportion the guidance allows (recalled from the NCHFP guidance; verify against the source).

Dried beans. Beans are low-acid and dense, and the parent article gives a separate line for them. Soak and pre-cook as the tested guidance says; dried red kidney beans contain a lectin that is destroyed only by thorough boiling, so the pre-cook is a safety step, not a convenience.

What You Need

Method: Pack To The Schedule

Step 1: Prepare the food in the form the schedule names, and keep it hot if the pack is hot.

Step 2: Pack to 1 inch of headspace as the parent article specifies, release bubbles, wipe rims, fit lids.

Step 3: Process in the pressure canner at the pressure and for the time in the schedule for that food and jar size, adjusted for altitude from the tested source.

Step 4: Cool undisturbed, check the seals, label with food, date and batch.

Common Mistakes

  • Adding flour or cream to the jar “so it’s ready to serve”.
  • Packing meat solid into a quart to save jars. Dense packing slows heat.
  • Canning a stew by the shortest ingredient’s time. The slowest-heating ingredient sets the schedule.
  • Using the same line for pints and quarts. Each size has its own line.

Safety

The boil-before-eating rule is a backstop, not a rescue

The parent article advises boiling home-canned low-acid food for 10 minutes before eating. Botulinum toxin is destroyed by that heat, but the instruction exists as a second line of defence for a correctly processed jar, not as a way to make an under-processed one safe, and the tested guidance sets a longer boil for some foods (recalled). The toxin from Staphylococcus aureus, produced when food is handled and kept warm, is not destroyed by boiling; see Hygiene & Food Safety.

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